file server help

[RobTi]

Looking to build a server that wil be in my loft it will be for storing my mp3\video rips to be viewed through eventualy a htpc setup.
So where do i start as to which drives and what else do i need?
Thanks
Robert

[arthurleung]

Few things you need to consider:
1. What kind of video rips you are going to store? MPEG2 (DVD?) or MPEG4?(Divx,Xvid,H.264?)
2. How much video you are going to store?
3. How many users are accessing the server at the same time.

You could just get a diskstation and thats enough to keep everything.
It just takes me 115GB to store 188 Hours of Xvid. A 300G HDD will be enough for most people's video/audio collection (except HDTV).

I now view my video/listen to my mp3 via 802.11b on my ipaq

[Norky]

The spec of the server computer doesn't need to be much, look at spending around £200 I reckon. However, it would be worth investing in gigabit ethernet to allow for more than one client streaming in the future.

[arthurleung]

The spec of the server computer doesn't need to be much, look at spending around £200 I reckon. However, it would be worth investing in gigabit ethernet to allow for more than one client streaming in the future.

DVD Streaming only takes less than 10Mbps, 100Mbps will be enough for 10 users. Even if you use HDTV it is only around 30Mbps.

[RobTi]

Thanks all with the replies i would hopfully be having 4 people accessing it as i want it round the house.
It will be mainly dvd rips that will be stored on it to save me getting the discs out.
And now a stupid question what else is in a server that i am looking at building
Thanks

[specofdust]

I believe Mpeg2 is actually 12Mbps, so bear that in mind if you go wireless(some wireless routers get less then that at medium range, some more).

Servers need lot's of HDD, hardly any CPU power, a good ammount of ram can be usefull, and that's about it. I wouldn't even bother with a CD drive.

[arthurleung]

I would recommend a VIA EPIA board with onboard processor, 256-512m memory, 4x200G harddrive, using onboard lan would be good enough.

If you don't need a lot of space, seriously a link station would be more than enough

[RobTi]

Thanks for the help
I have a spare Abit nf7-s and a mobile cpu would that do also with regards to ram i don't need anything fancy do i like low latency ?
Thanks

[Nick F]

Keep it wired and make sure you put at least 500GB in there to last you a bit of time.

[StoneNewt]

a really nice RAID card for this kinda thing is the HTP1820A. It does a good RAID5 if you can live with the pitiful write performance, reading though your data rate will be network limited.

[Nick F]

If all you are going to do is steam media to other pc's I doubt you will need Raid

[StoneNewt]

hehehehe, having ripped all my DVD's to disk (just keeping them as a massive .vob file not even encoding them to mpeg4) I'm more thinkin' about what happens when a drive dies

[Norky]

hehehehe, having ripped all my DVD's to disk (just keeping them as a massive .vob file not even encoding them to mpeg4) I'm more thinkin' about what happens when a drive dies

Rip them again...?

[StoneNewt]

yeah lets rip 200 odd GB of mpeg2 AGAIN! no thanks I'll live with an overnight RAID rebuild

[RobTi]

So i know i need 400\500gb storage would that be 4*100gb drives or 4*200gb drives?
Thanks
Robert

[StoneNewt]

I'd go for 3x250GB RAID5